Because in a virtual reality, there will always be someone like you. Someone who is just as afraid of the unknown, the judging minds and harsh thoughts of others. Someone who has been searching for someone just like you for their entire life.
We are taught to not be too much or too little, to not shout about our weird passions to the world and to fit ourselves to this mould society has created. We are forever looking behind us to see who is whispering and mocking; we are forever terrified that our friends are not really our friends and that who we are will be ridiculed. The real world can be a hostile place to live.
But I am not saying we should choose one over the other, I’m simply saying that this stigma which exists around online friendships and relationships is ridiculous. I’m saying that both hold so much meaning, both can change our lives. Both can change us into better people, both can break us free from the cages of our own minds, both can give us the courage to just be ourselves, to speak freely about the things which scare us and move us and inspire us.
Online friendships give us just that little bit more love in a world which is full of so much hate. They give us permission to love ourselves, to see ourselves in others and to demand a friendship which is honest. Online friendships allow us to reach out to people who we have been inspired by for years and to develop something we never could have anticipated.
And sometimes, just sometimes, we can decide that we want to see them, feel them, know that look on their face when they find something hilarious or beautiful or exhilarating.
Online worlds allow us to choose our world and the people we want in it, the people that matter.
